Erik von Detten, the former Disney actor known for “Brink!” and “The Princess Diaries,” faces a lawsuit from an elderly California couple who accuse him of steering them into overpriced gold coins that consumed much of their retirement savings.
Norman Greenberg, 97, and Sheila Greenberg, 85, filed the complaint in May against von Detten, 44, and his employer, the precious metals dealer Rosland Capital. They allege financial elder abuse, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive fraud and conversion. No court has ruled on any of the claims.
According to the filing, von Detten joined Rosland in 2018 after largely stepping back from acting. The Greenbergs say they told him they knew little about gold and had about $2 million in retirement savings. They allege he presented himself as an experienced adviser and recommended Lady Liberty gold coins.
The couple says they placed two orders worth roughly $1 million each, and the coins went to storage rather than to them. They later concluded, they allege, that the coins carried a steep markup. TMZ, which obtained the court documents, reported the Greenbergs paid about $2.1 million for coins worth near $1.3 million. Other outlets cite totals ranging from $2 million to $2.3 million, the higher figure including family-trust funds. The couple seeks to recover roughly $900,000 in losses, plus punitive damages.
The complaint also says von Detten kept contacting the Greenbergs and pressed them to invest more. It contends the defendants took the couple’s money with intent to defraud. Von Detten has not publicly addressed the lawsuit. According to TMZ’s account, Rosland went bankrupt months after the suit was filed.
Von Detten began acting as a child, landing a 55-episode run on the soap “Days of Our Lives” in 1992 and voicing the toy-tormenting Sid Phillips in the original “Toy Story” three years later. He became a familiar presence in Disney productions through the late 1990s and early 2000s. The Greenbergs’ account remains one side of a dispute. The gap between reported totals suggests the court will need to sort out what the couple paid, what the coins were worth and what von Detten told them.
